This is starting to look familiar…

Once again Facebook comes across as the heavy, and after a flurry of media coverage, has reverted to their old Terms of Service while they figure out how NOT to look like lawyers…

(It’s very telling that the new ToS were announced on the Facebook blog by their “Corporate Counsel for Commercial Transactions,” not a member advocate, community manager, etc.)

They’ve posted the Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. They should use this (and its language) as their ToS, instead of the old line “I know it says that, but what it means is this…”

The Lesson for Social Network Entrepreneurs:

You need to write Terms of Service (and a privacy policy) for your site. They key here is that YOU should write it.

But aren’t lawyers supposed to do that?

Well, lawyers will tend to provide a draconian, unreadable ToS that will make your members feel like, well, Facebook users.

So sit down and learn from the best, then create a first draft. After all, it is your business, your community, and your rules.

Don’t use big words, don’t try to sound like a lawyer.

Just explain what the ground rules are.

Looking for great inspiration?

Yahoo! gets it right with their real language approach.

Twitter sets the right tone (and puts Facebook to shame for continuing to claim the need for licensing rights):

Copyright (What’s Yours is Yours)
We claim no intellectual property rights over the material you provide to the Twitter service. Your profile and materials uploaded remain yours. You can remove your profile at any time by deleting your account. This will also remove any text and images you have stored in the system.

Can’t get any simpler than that…